The Problem with a Nerdy Secret Identity
by HappyHealthyNerdy
Summary: After a bad patrol with Green Arrow Artemis discovers Wally is being bullied. She decides to help him, and along the way they realize they don't hate each-other.


Artemis angrily entered the Cave, ripping off her cowl and chucking it into the corner. She had just finished a patrol with Green Arrow and everything that could have gone wrong did. She missed the shot and because of that the crook got away, a civilian was hurt, and freaking Red Arrow had to come and catch the guy. Green Arrow hadn't said anything, but she could tell he was disappointed, and Red Arrows cocky attitude had almost led her to shoot an arrow into him. And she wouldn't have missed him.

She stormed into the training room, hoping to find a sparring partner to force her frustration onto. Unluckily, or luckily depending on the perspective, there was no one else in the Cave. She had no clue where Connor or Me'gan could be, and Wolf wasn't even around. Huffing angrily, she made her way over to the room where the punching bags were stored, only to discover she wasn't alone.

If she hadn't seen the red hair she would have thought that it was Conner based on the pure rage dripping from every punch to the punching bag. Wally varied in the speed he used, sometimes going at a normal human pace or speeding up to the point where his arms and body were a blur. She leaned against the door to watch as he continued to pummel the punching bag, and noticed that his red tank-top was dark with sweat. He must have been there quite a while to work up that much of a sweat.

Despite her bad day, Artemis found it amusing to watch Wally vent his anger onto a punching bag. It was rare to see Wally this angry. He, just like every other Flash, seemed to have this never failing good humor that prevailed in even the worst situations. To see him like this, so angry that he had no choice but to beat a punching bag, was partly amusing but mostly reassuring.

It made him human. Despite his numerous flaws, and the stupidity that Artemis loved to rub in his face, he always seemed more unhuman than the aliens that surrounded him. Nothing ever seemed to affect him for more than a few minutes, and he somehow managed to see the best in everyone, even her. This anger was human, something they had in common. She like to know that he had feelings just like her.

However, his anger didn't seem to be diminishing, and her's was still there. She made way over to his punching bag and waited till his arm went back to deliver another punch before she grabbed it.

Wally reacted quickly, and it was only her numerous training sessions with him that allowed her to doge the punch to the head.

"Spar with me," She demanded, and Wally pulled away, his anger disappearing behind a mask of annoyance.

"I'm not in the mood blondie," He spat, and despite the annoyance in his tone, she knew it was fake. The anger was still coursing its way through his system, and she wanted to see that again, the human part of Wally. Not this _mask_ he was showing her now.

Artemis released his arm, stepping back and stretching her own over her head, "You're right. I shouldn't take you down when you're in such an obvious bad mood."

She could see that the anger was raising its head again as he responded, his voice drenched in restrained anger, "It wouldn't be a fair fight,"

Artemis rolled her eyes, sauntering out the room, "Don't worry. I'll tie one arm behind my back."

Wally growled, but to Artemis's surprise he didn't follow her. She could hear him resume his beating of the punching bag, and decided that she wouldn't allow him to prevent her from venting her anger. If he wouldn't spar with her she was going to beat one of the punching bags. She quickly changed into her more comfortable workout clothes and made her way back to the punching bags, grabbing a water bottle and wrapping her hands as she went.

If Wally was surprised to see her return he didn't show it, mindlessly continuing his assault on the punching bag. She picked a punching bag two away for his and began from her own attack. She mimicked his style, endlessly changing her speed and the force of her hits. It took him a while to noticed, but when he did she smirked, briefly catching his eyes.

He didn't say anything, but the complexity of his punching patterns increased, and some kicks began to be thrown in. She effortlessly followed, and it wasn't long before she threw her own move in, silently challenging him to match it. He did, and there began their competition. Slowly the anger faded from their frames, and small smiles replaced the scowls. They were both evenly matched in ability, even if their strength differed. Artemins couldn't match Wally's speed and he couldn't match her flexibility.

Neither could say how long they spent abusing the two punching bags before Wally eventually stepped back from the punch bag, breathing heavily. Artemis smirked and tossed him the water bottle, watching him take a sip and then pass it back to her. She took her own drink before sitting down remove the wraps from her hands. It was only as she unwrapped her own that she noticed the lack of protection on Wally's hands.

She didn't comment, despite the obviously injured state of his knuckles. There was nothing that could be done now anyway.

"Man, I am starving!" Wally announced, walking out the room and throwing over his shoulder, "I'm making nachos, if you want any."

Unsurprisingly, it didn't take long for Wally to create a large tray of nachos for the both of them. They both ate quietly and quickly, Artemins watching as Wally's knuckles healed themselves. When the tray was clear, and Wally had begun the dishes Artemis spoke.

"You should wrap you hands next time," She saw him tense but continued, "I know you have the speed healing thing, but you shouldn't be stupid."

"Awww," He cooed, leaning towards Artemis, "You're worried about me."

Artemis scoffed, "As if,"

Wally grinned, "No need to hide it babe, no one can resist the Wallman." After a moment he added quietly, "Besides, I don't do it that often."

"Forget to wrap or beat the punching bag?"

Wally rolled his eyes, "Wrap, duh." There was another moment of silence before Wally asked, "Why were you beating up the punching bag? You seemed pretty mad."

Artemis scowled, pushing away from the counter, "Bad patrol."

Wally nodded knowingly, wincing slightly, "Yeah, that sucks."

"What about you?"

"What?"

"Why were you here?"

For a moment she thought he wouldn't answer, but then he spoke, "Bad day at school." He smiled, and it was as if a flip was switched, "You think with all the hero stuff school would be a breeze," He grinned, as if what he was talking about didn't bother him at all, "But the people, man! They're unlike any bad guys I've ever met." He ran his hand through his hair, his smile fading slightly, "In Central when the Rouges attack, everyone is willing to help. But in high school…" he trailed off, "…in high school they just watch." His grin returned full force and he beamed at her, "But hey, High School's hell, right?"

Artemis was shocked. She was a master at reading between the lines and what Wally had said spelled out the situation clearly. She couldn't believe he of all people was being bullied.

"Does anyone else know?"

Wally smiled, "Know what babe?"

She ignored the obnoxious pet name and continued, "Know you're being bullied."

His smile fell and he sighed, leaning against the counter, "Should've known you'd guess." She waited and eventually he continued, "Have I told anyone? No, but Rob probably knows anyway. You can't keep anything from him. But, he's in the same boat I am."

"The boy wonder is bullied?" Artemis asked in amazement and Wally winced.

"I wasn't supposed to share that, but yeah." He hesitated then asked, "What about you?"

Artemis shook her head, "They tried, but I don't take anything from anyone."

Wally deflated, "Yeah…"

After the silence began to fill the room Artemis asked, "What do they do?"

Wally shrugged, "Standard stuff. Name calling, breaking stuff, stolen homework. They tried to shove me in a locker once, but I don't fit. Sometimes…" He trailed off.

"Sometimes…" Artemis prompted, sensing what he was leaving out was important.

"Sometimes things get physical," Seeing the shock on her face he quickly continued, "They're some stupid kids who like to think they're strong by beating up the nerd. It's no big deal,"

"Why haven't you done anything?" Artemis demanded, and Wally scowled.

"What am I supposed to do?" He growled, "Wally West wouldn't be able to defend himself against these guys and it would only get worse if I said something."

Artemis hated to admit he was right, he couldn't risk exposing his ID and she knew telling did little to help. There wasn't even anything she or the rest of the team could do. None of their secret ID's would have any reason to know Wally West and they couldn't go in as superheroes.

"I'm sorry,"

Wally stared at her in shock, "It ok?" He said hesitantly.

"You don't deserve that. No one does."

Wally smiled, "Thanks blondie," he said, and Artemis scowled, but then had an idea.

"Wait, they bully you because your nerdy, right? Cause Wally West can't defend himself?" Artemis asked, leaping over the counter.

"Yeah," Wally spat defensively, and instinctively ducked when Artemis swung at him. He unconsciously matched her speed as she attacked him, ducking every attack and making no effort to attack her. She eventually managed to pin him and grinned.

"Your Uncle is a police scientist, right?" She asked, and Wally nodded uncomprehendingly, "Then it'd make sense that he'd teach you some basic self-defense."

"But why wouldn't I have used it until now?"

Artemis thought for a moment and then grinned, "Central City's police office was office was attacked the other night…"

"…and since I spend so much time there my Uncle got paranoid and taught me," He finished grinning.

"I can spend the next couple weeks helping you learn to control your speed, that would enough time for Wally West to learn this, right?"

He suddenly pushed out of the hold she had him in and placed her in one of his own, "I think so."

If the team was surprised to see Wally and Artemis sparring every night, they didn't comment. Wally and Artemis spent all their time trying to make Wally's fighting look as new and slow as possible. They needed to give him the appearance of having just enough skill to be a terrible target, but not enough that it looked like he had known it for a while.

And though neither would admit it, Wally and Artemis liked their time together. Sparring was something they both enjoyed, and after the first couple of days they would spend and hour or so talking after their sparring was finished. It didn't take long for Artemis to meet that nerd that was Wally West. She learned that he had this ability to go off on long tangents about chemistry that Artemis had no hope of following, but pretended to. Eventually she leaned to notice and understand his bad science puns and she hated that they only became more frequent when he knew that she understood.

Wally found that Artemis had an extremely sarcastic sense of human and had a secret obsession with motorcycles. She could spend hours talking about them, and as soon as she had the money she was going to buy one. While Wally couldn't understand all the models she talked about he had enough of an understanding to follow most of her rants. It didn't take too long for her to drag him to look at motorcycles with her every opportunity they got.

During the time they trained together, it wasn't uncommon for Wally to come to the Cave if the bullies had landed a hit that left a mark. He never wanted his Uncle to know, and with his speed healing the mark disappeared within an hour or so. Artemis never let him hide the marks from her. She demanded to see each one and taught him a move to block every part of his body they managed to hit.

When Wally ran into the Cave with a black eye but a giant grin Artemis knew something had changed. He ran over to her, and pulled her into a spinning hug.

"I did it!" He cried, finally setting her back on her feet, "They tried to- but I didn't let them! They came in but- bam! Bam!" He explained, making no sense but filling the room was a sense of glee.

"You finally beat them up?" Artemis asked dryly, and Wally nodded, his hands settling on her hips.

"And it's all thanks to you babe,"

It was only Aqualad's quiet, "What has transpired?" That made them realize that their team was in the room with them and their close proximity to each other. They quickly sprang apart; the boy wonders laugh echoing throughout the Cave. They refused to tell the rest of the team what they had been talking about, but Artemis saw Wally excitedly talking to Robin later and knew that he was retelling his fight with the bullies. Part of her wanted to be annoyed, but she just smiled and rolled her eyes before she walked away.

Later that night, long past when the rest of the team was in bed or gone, the Flash entered the cave. He made his way straight to Artemis and smiled at her.

"Thank you," He began, placing his hand on Artemis's shoulder, "Wally doesn't know I know about the bullies, and I was foolish enough to wait for him to come to me." He squeezed her shoulder, "I just want you to know how much you've helped him. It's been awhile since I've seen him this confident outside of his costume, and I have a feeling it's all because of you."

"You're welcome?"

He squeezed her shoulder one more time before making his way to the zeta tubes. Just as he was about to leave he threw over his shoulder, "Don't wait for him to come to you," and was gone.

Artemis chose not to think too deeply on his parting message.

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